A Little Fate
by writingiswhatido
Summary: Cato doesn't know why Clove walks homeless on the streets of New York City but what he does know is that she's effecting him in ways he didn't think was possible. Everyone think he's a lunatic because he had let a homeless girl into his home, giving her more than just a place to stay.
1. Chapter 1

Someone's cracked open my head, Cato thought, squeezing his eyes tighter together. Cato had woke up from a deep sleep to a splitting pain in his head. He hadn't opened his eyes yet, not wanting to have blinding light awaken him any further. The coolness of his silk sheets clung to his bear skin, which was his whole body. He relaxed his eyes as he tried to fall asleep, hoping the pain of his hangover would go away. He tried to focus on his breathing but realized that he wasn't the only one breathing in the room.

He sat up abruptly, opening his eyes reluctantly to his room. He frowned and swung his legs over the side of his bed, looking for sweatpants. After pulling the light gray pair off the floor and onto his legs, he opened his bedside table drawer and pulled out a medicine bottle. After sticking two Advil in his mouth and swallowing them down with a gulp of water from the half empty water bottle on the bedside table, he turned to his next problem, a sleeping girl in his bed.

He prodded her rather forcefully in the shoulder. He wasn't at all surprised by her being in his bed, this wasn't the first time that another girl had slept in his bed. This girl had light brown hair and was attractive but Cato didn't expect to see her again after she left his house today. After some more pokes to the upper arm the girl opened her eyes and looked at Cato. "You can go, or do you want me to show you out?" he asked, rather rudely. He probably wouldn't have been this rude if his head didn't hurt that much. This was the worst hangover that he had ever had.

The girl frowned at what Cato said and sat up, watching Cato as he checked the clock next to the bottle of water. 10:13AM.

"Something you need?" Cato asked angrily with his back turned to the girl, why hadn't the girl gone yet?

He heard the rustling of covers and close of door to indicate that she had finally gone. Cato sighed and rubbed his face in his hands, he couldn't go back to sleep, his headache was the reason he had awoken. Instead he threw away the gray blue sheets and got up. After tracking down a clean t-shirt, Cato exited his gray room and walked towards his kitchen. His apartment was fairly trashed from the previous night, red solo cups, empty beer bottles, and pizza crusts littered all over his counter. He didn't give it much thought since the maid would be by soon to clean up his mess as she usually did.

Cato started a pot of coffee and pushed a few red cups that were in his way, into the trash can. The counter was oddly sticky and Cato frowned at the texture that hit his hand. Where was the cleaning lady?

Grumbling, Cato cleared a space for him to sit and poured him a bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch. For 18, Cato had a fairly easy life. No college to worry about since he was just going to inherit his father's business in eight years anyway. He lived in his own apartment, an 18th birthday gift from his parents. It was more of a condo with it's large space in a very popular neighborhood. He didn't have a care in the world, Cato was living in luxury.

When his coffee was done, Cato took a big gulp of scalding black coffee. It burnt his throat but he didn't care, he was already taking a huge bite of Cinnamon Toast to subside the burning sensation in his mouth. The silence of a post party was something Cato had felt before. He didn't like silence but the headache that he was experiencing made silence tolerable for the time being.

As the Advil began to kick in, Cato started being able to process things and have clearer thoughts. He bent forward to look out of the glass door of his apartment to his balcony. The sky resembled his mood, a light gray with the threat of rain. It was gloomy and only let a small amount of light into his apartment.

As he sat eating he tried to remember the events of the previous nights. From the mess around him it must've been a very chaotic party. He stopped chewing to see if he could hear the breathing of anyone who had fallen asleep at his house. He HATED people who crashed at his house. They weren't his responsibility and he hated the surprise of finding an unconscious person at odd places. Especially when he didn't expect it.

Cato sat in silence for a few more minutes when a loud beeping noise interrupted the almost peacefulness. Cato jumped, knocking his bowl and making some milk splash out. He got up reluctantly and walked towards the noise of the beep to the apartment air phone.

He pushed the talk button and shouted annoyed into the microphone. "What?"

"Cato? It's Gale, open the door!" the sound of his childhood best friend came loudly through the air phone along with the sound of street noise. Cato sighed in annoyance and hit the lock button, making his way Towards the front door of his apartment to let Gale in.

"You both have a key, you know." Cato said, as he stepped aside to let Gale and his other childhood best friend Peeta walk in.

"I didn't want to startle you or disrupt anything... If you catch my drift." Gale said, turning around. Gale and Peeta were already fully dressed. Gale in a light gray tanktop and cargo shorts. Peeta in a light blue Abercrombie shirt and navy blue shorts with navy blue Vans.

"Why are you going to the gym and since when did you become a sailor?" Cato asked both of them. Peeta had just started dressing 'sharper' as he put it. Gale, even though he was as well off as Peeta and Cato, dressed more like he was always going to the gym or a basketball game.

Peeta opened his mouth to retort but Cato held up his hand to stop him.

"Why are you here?" Cato asked, rubbing his temples.

"Just swung by. That was a pretty great party." Gale said, walking towards Cato's kitchen. Cato and Peeta followed him.

"I wouldn't know." Peeta said. "I had to stay with Katniss."

"Hey, what did we say about asking her to marry you right after we graduated?" Gale said, picking up a piece of cold pizza from a box on the floor and taking a bite.

"You are absolutely disgusting." Cato said to Gale who shrugged and took another bite.

"Look, we're supposed to be there in twenty minutes and Cato isn't even dressed yet. Can we worry about other things?" Peeta asked, trying to draw the attention away from the fact that he was engaged to his high school girlfriend, Katniss Everdeen.

Cato didn't even know where to begin on Katniss. Peeta, like a lot of guys in their grade at the time, had the biggest crush on her. No one ever had the guts to go and ask her out on a date, Peeta only had worked up the nerve to go and say 'hi' to her in seventh grade even though they had known her since kindergarten. When they began dating in freshman year, Cato didn't know how it would work out. Peeta listened to everything Katniss said like she was his mom and followed her around like a lost puppy. Katniss was very attractive, you couldn't argue there. But she wasn't well off like the three of them, but Peeta didn't seem to care.

Cato groaned, remembering what Peeta meant. "Isn't the wedding like four months away?" Cato asked. They had only just gotten engaged in July and it was April.

"July 28th is the date and that is less than four months away." Peeta said. "Besides, this is a big thing. You two are the groomsmen, the only groomsmen. You have to look good."

If you didn't know Katniss and Peeta you would guess that they were rushing things, getting engaged right after they graduated high school. But if you knew them well and spent maybe an hour with them you would realize that the two were made for each other.

"What are the colors you two are making us wear?" Cato asked.

"Light gray with charcoal gray tie and vest."

"Just give me a few minutes." Cato said, getting up and heading towards his bathroom.

* * *

After a hot shower and change of clothes, Cato accompanied Gale and Peeta out of his messy apartment. They walked down the long flight of stairs and to the garage of the apartment complex. Gale's silver Lexus was parked in the guest parking spot of the garage.

As Gale walked towards his car, Cato shook his head and began walking towards his own, Peeta following.

"We're not taking my car?" Gale asked, running to the passenger side of Cato's red convertible, beating Peeta so that he had to sit in the back.

Cato shook his head and got in, today was not a convertible day, which is what he told Gale as Gale reached to touch the roof button of the car.

"Don't touch anything!" Cato repeated for the millionth time.

"Right, wouldn't want to mess with the girlfriend." Gale joked, earning a well deserved punch to the shoulder and a laugh from Peeta in the back.

Cato turned on his car and exited the parking garage, his headache had subsided and he was focusing on the road.

They drove with the windows down and the music loud. The streets of Manhattan were already flooded with people as they drove. Cato already had to use his horn several times, for probably unreasonable situations but he didn't care. He was in a grumpy mood and didn't want anyone dinging up his car.

Upon arrival at the tailor, Cato had already almost tripped on the curb and smacked his head on the door of the shop. The tailor barely missed his flesh with pins as he was fitted for his tux.

"Traditional ties are fine." Peeta said to the man pinning him up. "I was thinking that I would wear a silver tie to show that I'm the groom."

"Fine with me." Cato grunted as he examined his charcoal gray tie and vest. He liked his tuxedo very much, besides the fact that the new trainee was poking him every once in a while. Peeta said they would wear shiny black shoes and have white roses pinned to their tuxedos.

"Are you buying or renting?" the owner asked politely to Peeta.

Peeta looked at both of us wearily, not knowing what we would say.

"Buying." Cato grunted. "I can pay now if you like."

* * *

After leaving the tailor, Cato's patience was already running thin.

"That trainee or whatever kept poking me with pins." Cato said angrily as they got back into his car.

"Maybe he wouldn't have as much if you weren't saying rude comments everytime he got you. He was practically shaking." Peeta said.

Out of the three of them, Peeta was the nicest. He didn't say rude or snarky things whenever someone accidentally did something to him. He was understanding of their mistakes and said it 'was no big deal'. Gale, although somewhat understanding, did not like when things didn't go as planned, which is ironic since he doesn't like planning things. He was the second nicest of them. He, like Cato, didn't have intentions of having a long term girlfriend like Peeta did. He liked "all types of candy" as he would put it. Cato was the meanest and rudest of all of them. He called out people when he was angry with them but put on the charm with women if we wanted them in his room. Cato, was the friend who knew everyone. He threw the parties and was the one who people had the most fun with. Not that Gale or Peeta weren't fun, but Cato brought a mood to people that he could do effortlessly. Maybe that's why he was selected to be Peeta's best man. Surprisingly, Gale had no issue with this. He didn't want to have to plan the bachelor party anyway, "Too much work. I'd rather just be there." Gale had said.

To be honest, Cato hadn't given much thought to the bachelor party. Sure he knew who he had to invite, Peeta's father, Gale's father, his father, their buddies from high school that were going to the wedding. But he didn't know what he was going to do. It seemed as if the pressure was on for him to throw the best party that Peeta had ever been to. Katniss would ring his neck if Cato took him to a strip club and Cato had no patience for golf or fishing like Cato's father had suggested. Bar hopping was out of the question too since Cato, Gale, and Peeta were under 21 and flashing their fake ID's to get in in front of their fathers seemed a bit embarrassing.

As Cato thought this over as they drove, he was getting increasingly overwhelmed and had to shake his head from those thoughts. He had two months until he had planned to have it, why did he need to worry now?

They stopped at a stop light as people crossed, a few staring at Cato's car in admiration. Cato looked around, his eyes scanning the stores on the corner. "I need food." Cato said, driving quickly to the CVS on the corner once the light turned green.

Cato got out, ignoring the confused questions from Gale and Peeta who 'had to get back to Katniss'.

"If you want to walk home Peeta that's fine." Cato said angrily. "I'm hungry, I'm the driver. So we stop for food."

Cato entered CVS, leaving Peeta who looked shocked but followed quickly behind him and Gale.

Cato spent a good twenty minutes scanning the shelves of food, scanning the chips when he noticed that besides him, Gale, and Peeta, there was another girl in the aisle too.

She was fairly short and thin. She was wearing a windbreaker and baggy sweatpants and didn't look at any of the boys as she watched the chips. Although Cato couldn't see her face all the way, he could see the dirt on her face and hands. He moved to get a better view of her face, pushing Gale and Peeta in the chest so that they would stay back.

From the better angle he could tell she was stunningly beautiful, unlike the other girls that spent the night in Cato's bed after parties. This was only a view from the side however and before Cato had any time to register what was going on, her hand shot out and grabbed a bag of chips and shoved it under her windbreaker.

She left the aisle towards the exit, Cato quickly followed her and saw her raise the bag of chips above her head and walk through the security sensors and out the door. No one noticed that she had just shoplifted except for Cato who called to Gale and Peeta to follow.

When he got outside he looked frantically in both directions, but the girl had disappeared.

"You pulled us in there and you don't even get anything?" Gale asked angrily as Cato ran to his car and got in.

"Get in!" Cato shouted at a confused Gale and Peeta. They obeyed and got in the car, still looking utterly confused.

Cato didn't even put on his seatbelt. He was already driving out of the CVS and scanning the streets for the girl.

"What are you looking for?" Gale asked, trying to look at what Cato was looking at.

Cato suddenly spotted the girl. She was walking away from CVS looking innocent even though she wasn't. Cato slowed down and pulled over to let cars go by and to stay at the pace of the girl. Cato rolled down Gale's window and leaned over to say something.

"I saw that you know." he said. Gale looked at Cato giving him a look like he was insane. Peeta moved uneasily in the backseat.

"So?" she asked, glancing at Cato and looking back ahead.

"Shoplifting is a crime." Cato stated. The girl laughed as if she didn't care.

"What are you going to do about it?" she asked.

"Get in." he said, stopping the car.

"What are you doing?" Gale whispered frantically. "She's hot and all but she's fucking homeless! She's dirty!"

"I'm not getting raped by you or your friends." she said, laughing darkly again.

"I'm not going to rape you." Cato said.

"Sure you won't." she said.

"You will get raped if you continue to stay on the streets. Especially in this part of town." Cato said, driving to keep up with the girl.

"I can take care of myself." she said.

"Just get in. You can eat something at my place and then leave." Cato said.

At this the girl raised her eyebrows and gave Cato a sideways look. "Food?" she asked.

"Yea. Now get in." Cato said. He turned to Gale and said, "Get in the back."

"What? No!" Gale said, crossing his arms.

"Get. In. The. Back." Cato said gritting his teeth, glaring at his friend.

"Or what?" Gale said.

"You can walk."

"You're kidding you wouldn't-"

"Don't try me."


	2. Chapter 2

Gale sighed angrily and got out of the car. He opened the passenger side and got in next to Peeta, cursing under his breath.

The girl got in and sat down in the passenger seat. She looked at Cato and around the car before looking straight ahead.

Cato began driving back towards his apartment, glancing at the girl in the passenger seat every once in a while.

Peeta who was unusually quiet, shifted in his seat. He was the friendliest of the three and surprisingly didn't say a word to the girl.

When they got back to the apartment, the three guys got out, Gale went angrily to his car without saying a word, followed by Peeta who stammered that he had to get home to Katniss.

"This way." Cato said to the girl, heading towards the long flights of stairs. She followed silently and walked up the stairs with Cato, leaving a good ten feet between them at all times. Once they reached the top of the stairs and the pent house that was Cato's, he unlocked the door and prayed that the house would be clean by now.

His prayers were answered when the door swung open to a clean house. Everything was sparkling and smelt fresh. He smiled slightly at how neat he must seem.

He looked at the girl who was scanning his house, her face expressionless which frustrated Cato. What did she think of his place?

"You live alone?" she asked.

"Yeah, just me." Cato said. "You want a tour?"

She didn't say anything as Cato showed her the bathroom, kitchen, living room, his bedroom, guest bedroom, and balcony.

"You want Chinese food?" Cato asked.

She didn't answer again which Cato assumed was a yes. He reached for his phone to find a Chinese food place that delivered. "You wanna shower while we wait for the food?" Cato asked.

"You happen to have woman's body products just laying around?" she asked.

Cato nodded. "Razors, shampoo, conditioner, and body wash. Everything you need under the sink."

"I thought you live alone?"

"I do." he said casually, tossing her a towel.

She stared at him for a few seconds, but Cato didn't notice, he was too busy trying to find clean clothes. "I can lend you clothes too. They're mine and pretty big on you but you can wear them so that yours can get washed." Cato said casually handing her a gray t-shirt and navy blue sweatpants.

The girl continued to stare at him, this time Cato did notice. "What?" he asked.

"What's with the generosity?" she asked suspiciously. Cato shrugged, not knowing the answer himself.

"Do I seem shifty to you?" Cato asked.

She nodded and watched him suspiciously.

"Don't worry I won't try anything. I'm not like that." Cato said.

"Prove it." she said.

"How about this, I order the food down here and you can go up the stairs to the bathroom and take a shower. Lock the door, board wooden planks over it I don't care." he said, and turned to walk down the stairs, leaving the girl in the hallway next to the bathroom.

* * *

Thirty minutes had passed and Cato was leaning on the island in the middle of the kitchen, drumming his fingers on the granite surface. Five minutes ago the water had finally shut off to the shower, he was expecting the girl to come down at any second. Either that or the food to arrive. His stomach grumbled as his patience was running low on the arrival of the food.

The dead silence was becoming irritating, he hated dead silence. He only tolerated it in the mornings when he had a bad hangover. From upstairs, the opening and closing of a door broke the silence. This was followed by soft feet on the stairs which made a padder like rain.

Arriving seconds later in the kitchen was the girl who looked a lot different. Now that she was clean, her beauty really showed. Her skin now spotless showed her dusting of freckles on her face against her wintry cream skin. Her raven hair, still damp and in a ponytail was tangle free and clean. The clothes she wore made her like even smaller and more fragile. But what stood out to Cato was how skinny she looked. It looked as if she had gone days without food, Cato couldn't help but feel sorry for her.

He frowned, he didn't often feel sorry for someone. Why did it matter to him?

"Yeah I know, these are huge." she said, looking at herself. It looked as if she had rolled his sweatpants a few hundred times.

Before Cato could get a word out, the air phone rang. The Chinese food had arrived. Cato quickly walked to it and pressed "Lock." He heard a buzzing, signaling the opening of the door and pulled out his wallet to get ready to pay the person.

The delivery man gave running up the stairs two at a time and finally reached the top winded and gasping for breath. Cato took out a twenty and a ten as he opened the door for the delivery man. "Twenty...twenty four….ninety five." the man gasped. He was pale and had greasy black hair that was extremely curly.

Cato handed him the money and waited for his change while holding the white paper bag of food in his arms. The boy looked eagerly inside at Cato's apartment while Cato handed him a two dollar tip. He wouldn't have given him anything, but he made it up the stairs so fast that Cato had to give it to him.

He closed the door on the delivery man before he got any funny ideas and carried the steaming bag of food towards the dining room. The aroma coming off of it was enough to make anyones mouth water.

He placed the bag on the center of the dining room, leaving the food unattended with the homeless girl who probably hadn't eaten in a few days judging by her collarbones that stuck out so sharply against the pale skin around it. He went into the cabinets and grabbed two large dinner plates and two pairs of chopsticks. Along with the plates, he retrieved two tall glasses, two bowls, and grabbed a liter bottle of Coke from his fridge.

"I hope you're hungry." Cato said, laughing as he walked into his dining room. He placed the plates on the dark gray dining table and poured two large glasses of Coke. The girl took her seat across from Cato who took his seat as well. The bag of Chinese food remained surprisingly untouched and still steaming from the hot and delicious contents inside.

Cato opened the bag of food and took out the carton of Wonton soup, General Tso's chicken with broccoli, lo mein, and sweet & sour chicken with duck sauce. He watched Clove as she stared at the food with wide eyes, locked on the chicken.

"Let's start off with the Wonton soup." Cato said, opening the lid of the container. The steam issued forth as Cato poured the soup and dumplings into their bowls. He gave the girl three dumplings and a lot of broth, pouring the same amount into his.

He slid the bowl towards her, handing her chopsticks. She gave him a funny look at the eating utensils that she was holding but shrugged and began eating.

"I never got your name." Cato said, casually as he picked up a dumpling and took a bite.

"I never got your yours." she said casually.

"Well I would like to know the name of the person that I am sharing my house and meal with." Cato said casually.

"And I would like to know whose food I'm eating and whose house I'm in." she said, finishing her first dumpling.

"Cato Hadley." Cato said, smiling at the stubborn girl.

"Clove." she said, never looking up at Cato.

"Last name?" Cato asked.

"Nothing of importance." she said casually.

"You're awfully stubborn." Cato commented.

"I wouldn't be where I was if I wasn't."

They continued eating, moving on from the dumplings to the General Tso's chicken, lo mein, and sweet and sour chicken. He could tell Clove was trying to pace herself but he could also tell that she was eating the food at a much faster rate than him. He didn't mind, but as she ate, he realized that she was going to leave when she was finished eating, and for some odd reason, Cato didn't want this.

"Do you want to spend the night in the guest bedroom?" Cato asked abruptly.

Clove looked up from her plate of rice and chicken. She looked puzzled at Cato's offering, not knowing what to do. Cato knew he would have to convince her.

"It's a king sized bed in the guest room, a Tempurpedic bed. There's a lock on the door so you can lock yourself in if you're afraid that I'll sneak in or some shit but I really don't think you should be spending the night on the streets of New York." Cato explained.

"I've spend my days on the street since two months after I graduated high school, although, a Tempurpedic bed does sound nice." Clove said, pushing her plate away.

"So is that a yes?" Cato asked, hopefully.

"Sure, why not?" Clove said. Cato, feeling good about himself, rose from the table and took the empty plates from the table. Clove arose at the same time, taking the empty glasses.

They cleaned up in silence and put the dirty dishes into the dishwasher. Cato, who was throwing out the cartons of empty food into the trash looked at Clove who was looking out at the view from the balcony.

"Do you want new clothes?" Cato said abruptly. Where was this sudden generosity coming from?

She turned around, noticing the same generosity from him too. "Why do you offer?" she asked.

"Well...I just noticed...your clothes now...they're ripped...and..." Cato didn't know how to get out of this one.

"And?"

"I just wondered...if you...wanted new clothes..." Cato said quietly, scratching the back of his head.

"You don't have to buy me millions of things, I'm only staying one night." Clove said.

Unfortunately. Cato thought. "I still think you need new clothes. Don't worry it's no big deal."

* * *

One car ride later Cato found himself swiping his credit card after willingly buying this homeless girl three outfits which she kept declining as he brought them to the register.

"I really only need one outfit, you don't have to get me this stuff I-" Clove stammered, tailing him on the way to the check out.

"Relax. Both outfits looked good on you, and I'm loaded so this doesn't effect me at all." Cato said, stepping up to the open register and placing the three outfits on the table. One was blue skinny jeans, a pink crop top, and white Converse. The second was a red Lifeguard hoodie with "Coney Island, NY" on it, shorts, and another pair of sneakers. The final one was pajama bottoms and other female clothing items that Cato had a fun time picking out. Cato just figured she would wear one of his shirts, he liked it better that way anyway and was surprised at how Clove didn't notice.

The check out lady like most of the people in the store, stared at Clove's oversized clothing of Cato's, making Cato and probably more Clove feel slightly uncomfortable.

"Can we just get out of here?" Clove said frantically. Cato noticed two teen girls walk by, laughing at the state of Clove.

"Of course." Cato said, taking the bag of clothes and leading her out of the store and to the mall's entrance. Clove hung her head low in shame, making Cato feel awkward and sorry for her.

"I promise, once you get home you can change." Cato said reassuring her.

This didn't seem to help at all but even when Cato drove back to his apartment and she pulled her knees to her chest in the front seat, he still had a sinking feeling in his stomach? Was it guilt? No? Pity?

Cato had no idea, this was a foreign feeling of sadness and pity for this girl and as the engine of his sports car purred, filling his ears with the sound, he couldn't stop thinking of her face when those girls laughed at her.

* * *

Cato was still a teenage boy. So naturally, especially for him, he found himself peeking through the crack of the door to the guest room while Clove changed. What Clove didn't realize was that she had left the door open a good inch, enough for Cato to peek without being noticed. When he looked in her back was to him and she was bent over, trying to get the clothes out of the bag on the ground. When she finally pulled them out, she pulled Cato's oversized shirt over her head, revealing her pale, bale back.

But when Cato saw her back, he didn't get the reaction he thought he would be doing. Instead of being glad that he had some sort of view, his stomach dropped. He wanted to shield his eyes from the sight, he wanted to run away and rethink his whole life. But he couldn't look away.

She was all bones. And when she bent over to pick up something on the ground, Cato saw her whole spine poking out of her back. It must be impossible. She being so thin, yet alive. What Cato finally realized is that this may have been Clove's first meal in weeks, maybe a month. He was amazed that she was somehow able to hide the skinniness of herself. It must be the baggy clothing.

As she sat back up and stretched her back, something came into view of Cato that already seared itself into his brain forever. Her shoulder blades, rising out of her skin that clung on so tight to her body. She reminded him of a dead baby bird. Like the one he had to kill in the park when he was seven.

He was messing around with his pellet gun and shot a bird's nest, knocking it to the ground and spilling the new born baby birds to the ground. All except one died on impact, leaving one, crying and chirping for mercy of the pain it was in. Cato, who ran and told his father what happened, crying like he was two was forced to stomp on the baby bird's head to kill it.

"You got yourself into this, you're ending it. Kill it. Now. And suck it up, be a man." his father had told him.

As Cato stared at Clove, he finally came back to focus when she pulled a shirt over herself, covering the suffering of her body. Once Cato did come around however, he felt a churning in his stomach as he rushed to the bathroom.

He bent over the toilet and emptied the contents of his stomach for the first time today, and hopefully his last.


	3. Chapter 3

After Cato's puking incident, he decided to avoid all food products for the rest of the day. The only time he came into contact with it again was when he brought Clove a microwave pizza for dinner while they watched re-runs of Friends on TV. He tried focusing on the show, laughing along to Phoebe who sang "Smelly Cat". Clove laughed through a closed mouthful of pizza, watching Phoebe on Cato's giant flat screen TV. As much as Cato tried to focus on the TV, his mind kept wandering to the image of Clove's backside. He didn't find it disgusting, even though he puked up after seeing it. He saw suffering, scaring him and reminding him of a scaring childhood memory.

When the Friend's marathon was over and Cato took Clove's plate to the dishwasher, he decided to pop in a movie. Choosing Netflix on the TV, he scrolled down to Grown Ups 2 without hesitating. The opening credits appeared, making Clove cross her arms and sit up a little on her end of the sectional couch. Cato did his best to make sure all of Clove's needs were good, only glancing at his phone occasionally to see streams of messages of people asking him if he was having a party tonight.

When Clove got cold, he handed her a fleece blanket which she wrapped securely around her as they continued to watch the movie. Cato tapped his thumb on his thigh, itching to grab a beer but thought better not to. He clenched his fist tightly before releasing, letting the blood flow back to his hand.

When the movie was almost over, Cato looked over at Clove, surprised to see that her eyes were closed and she was snoring slightly. She looked peaceful lying there with her head propped up on her arm. Cato didn't want to wake her from her peaceful slumber, so he decided to pick her up and carry her to the guest bedroom. He got up from the couch, paused the movie, and made his way over to the sleeping Clove.

He tried scooping her up by placing his hands under her on her back and thighs but no sooner had he touched her, her eyes shot open and she pulled back her right fist and landed a heavy blow on Cato's left eye.

Cato yelled and stumbled backward in pain, clutching both hands over his eye.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing you creep!" Clove yelled at him, standing up from the couch.

"You fell asleep so I thought I would carry you up to the guest room and not wake you up! I didn't think you would punch me in the face... FUCK!" Cato yelled, the pain in his eye was getting increasingly worse.

"What did you think would happen?! Catching a homeless girl off guard while she was sleeping!" Clove yelled, clutching her right hand.

"I don't know!" Cato said, exiting the room and heading towards the bathroom. For a small and fragile girl, she could pack a punch.

He approached the mirror of the bathroom and removed his hand from his eye. The area around his eye was already beginning to turn purple and his eye was blood shot.

"Fuck." he muttered, turning around again and heading towards his freezer. After retrieving an ice pack from the freezer, Cato placed it over his black eye, still muttering swears as he exited the kitchen.

He found Clove still in the living room, her hand covering the hand that she had punched Cato with. "Are your knuckles bruised?" Cato asked. She shook her head as if to say, 'it's fine'.

"I don't believe you're ok. Let me see your hand." Cato said, already calming down from being punched.

Clove tentatively removed her hand from clutching her right hand. Her knuckles were also purple and bruising, Cato was surprised that she didn't break her hand.

"Do you need an ice pack too?" he asked. Clove nodded and followed Cato back into the kitchen. He got another ice pack and handed it to her, watching her as she placed it on her hand.

"It's getting late," Cato said, glancing at the timer on the oven which displayed 11:47pm.

"Yeah." Clove said, looking at it too.

"Do you need me to show you where the guest room is or do you remember?"

"I think I know the way."

As Cato laid awake in bed with the ice pack on his eye, he couldn't help but let his thoughts stray to today's events. He couldn't fall asleep for another two hours, thinking of who was in his guest bedroom and how much she had probably suffered.

* * *

At 8am, Cato woke up from his restless slumber feeling only slightly well rested. The only problem was he could only barely see out of his right eye. He walked to the bathroom quickly, inspecting his very purple and swollen black eye. He sighed and stripped himself from his boxers and tank top before hopping into the shower.

After his shower and changing into white basketball shorts and black tank top, he placed his sunglasses on to cover the embarrassing black eye on his face. He was almost out his front door to the gym before realizing that there was someone else in his house. He stopped in his tracks and ran back up to the guest bedroom and peaked inside.

He saw Clove laying on the bed under the thin covers, looking as peaceful as she was before she punched him in the face. Her raven hair was tangled and strewn across the expensive pillows. Her creme colored skin blended in with the bed, making her freckles stand out. Cato didn't know how long he stood there watching her, but when she finally began to stir, Cato quickly walked back down the stairs to the kitchen.

He prayed that she didn't know that he had been standing there and crossed his fingers when he heard her soft feet walk down the stairs.

"Are you hungry?" Cato asked when she entered the kitchen. Her hair was disheveled and she looked a bit sleepy still.

She nodded slightly and Cato pulled two bowls from the cupboard and the box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch that he ate yesterday. He grabbed the milk and two spoons, and handed Clove the cereal so that she could pour herself some. After she poured, he followed and in less than two minutes they were sitting at the dining room table, eating their cereal in silence.

"I guess I should be on my way." Clove said, as she finished her cereal. Cato almost chocked on his bite, swallowing it with a great amount of force.

"Wait." he said, as she began taking her bowl to the kitchen. "Do you want to go to the gym with me?"

"Look I really have over stayed my visit and-"

"No seriously it's no big deal. It gets kind of lonely here sometimes." Cato said, thinking up of reasons to get Clove to stay longer.

"Besides, I don't really have any gym appropriate clothes for the gym."

* * *

One stop at the mall later and much persuasion, Cato was stepping out of his red convertible in the gym parking lot along with Clove in her new gym attire. Navy blue shorts and a white tank top. Cato smiled at her as she followed him to the front door.

After checking in at the front, Cato made his way to start his normal weight training, looking to impress his house guest. But just when Cato thought he could actually impress this girl, she instead impressed him. She could lift a lot more than Cato imagined her lifting, proving to him that she still had muscle behind all those skin and bones. When she moved on to cardio, she left Cato with his mouth open as she began to run very quickly on the tredmil. At one point Cato almost dropped a barbell on his foot in awe of watching Clove.

"Yo man! Surprise to see you here!" a guy said approaching Cato. Cato turned to see his friend Marvel who was also a frequent party goer, Cato's especially.

"Surprised? I come here a lot." Cato said, raising an eyebrow.

"Just trying to make conversation." Marvel said, gulping his protein shake. Marvel wasn't that mature, compared to other guys his age. Marvel acted like he was 15-years-old and had a cocky attitude. One that Cato would get annoyed of really quickly.

"What's with the glasses inside?" Marvel asked, noticing the unusual glasses wear inside.

"Uh no reason I-" but Marvel already reached up and pulled Cato's sunglasses right off his face.

"Hey what the fuck!" Cato said, snatching them back. But the Dave had been done.

"Woah, man! How'd you get that shiner?" Marvel asked rather loudly.

"I got in a fist fight." Cato said, putting the glasses back on his face. He wasn't lying, but he wasn't telling the full truth either.

"Woah check out that fine babe over there." Marvel whispered, pointing behind Cato. Cato turned around slowly to see Clove running on the tredmil, the oversized tank too covering her suffering back. He felt his insides twitch at Marvel's comment and his fists clenched.

"Think I should go chat her up?" Marvel asked.

"No." Cato said quickly.

"Why not?" Marvel asked suspiciously.

Cato gulped, "Just leave her alone Marvel."

Marvel shrugged, "Plenty more where that can from am I right?" Marvel said, elbowing Cato.

"No." Cato said, shaking his head.

Marvel, who obviously didn't have anyone disagree with him, looked taken aback by Cato's comment.

"Well if you're going to be that way, I'll see you at the bachelor party or if you have a party before." Marvel said, walking towards the exit. Shortly after, Cato joined Clove during her cardio. As much as he ran, Clove always seemed to be going faster than him.

"Ok I've had enough." Cato said, slowing down and getting off. He was breathing heavily, while Clove also slowed down and stopped. His body and muscle ached and he bad never been that happy to get a drink of water, except maybe during football season last year.

"Are you okay?" Clove asked, looking at Cato uneasily.

"What? Yeah fine." he said, filling his protein shake with water and shaking it.

"Ok?" Clove asked, still looking at Cato funny.

"Let's just go back to my place, do you want lunch?" Cato asked.

* * *

"Ta da! A BLT." Cato said, placing his most recent masterpiece in front of Clove. Two pieces of toasted bread with bacon, lettuce, and fresh tomato. He cut the sandwich in half and rotated the pieces to look like butterfly wings. Clove looked down at it and then up at Cato who was making his own BLT. She picked up half of the sandwich and took a large bite.

"Good?" Cato asked.

Clove nodded through a mouthful of food and gave Cato a thumbs up. Cato smiled to himself and finished making his sandwich, sitting down next to Clove and taking a large bite.

"Okay, after this I really should go." she said, after swallowing a mouthful of food.

"You know you can stay the night again." Cato said, shrugging.

"I think I've overstayed my welcome already." Clove said.

"No seriously it's not that big of a deal." Cato said. Honestly he didn't want her to leave anytime soon.

"Cato I-"

"No seriously Clove. It's absolutely fine."

* * *

Once again, Cato felt himself wide awake at 3am. Why couldn't he sleep? He heard the sound of his clock ticking but other than that the house was silent.

"Cato?" he heard someone whisper. Cato lifted his head from the pillows and looked at his door. In a black silhouette in the threshold of the door was Clove.

"Uh, can I sleep in here? I had a nightmare." she asked quietly.

"What?" Cato said, registering what she was saying. "Oh, uh yeah sure."

He moved over in his bed as we watched Clove get under the covers and snuggle up next to him. Surprised by her actions, Cato wrapped his arm around her and pulled her even closer.

"Are you ok now?" Cato asked.

But Clove didn't answer, she was already fast asleep.


End file.
